Our Charity

The London Air Ambulance

How London’s Air Ambulance Came To Our Rescue

In November 2006 I was driving my 9 year old son to school when we were involved in a horrendous car crash. In a split second, a routine event had turned into every parent’s worst nightmare.

It took a few seconds to recover from the shock of my airbag going off before I could turn to face my son sitting in the back seat – all I remember was an overwhelming feeling of fear and panic as I looked at my beautiful little boy, eyes closed, unconscious and with a huge bleeding gash to the side of his head where the side of the car had buckled.

I screamed his name, fumbling madly to release my seat belt so that I could get to him. As I got out of the car the words of one of my wonderful paramedic first aid instructors flashed into my mind

 

“Keep calm – you can’t help anyone if you’re in a flap”.

 

I took a deep breath and opened the far side door. My heart stopped – I knew I had to check whether my son was breathing but somehow I just couldn’t do it. I grabbed hold of one of the passers-by who had stopped and told them I needed them to check for me. He was breathing – phew – I took another deep breath.

Now I was ready to use the first aid skills I had been taught so many times over my years of running Safe and Sound.

Keeping a close eye on his airway and breathing, I applied pressure to the head wound and tried desperately to stay calm. A passerby had called an ambulance and I was able to speak to the control room to give them more details.

They advised me that they had called the Air Ambulance team and that they were on their way, as well as a regular ambulance and fire engine.

It was a wet, windy, dark, winter morning. Rush hour traffic was at a standstill. It took the emergency services nearly 20 minutes to get to us – the longest 20 minutes of my life.

I watched on as firefighters worked on cutting the side of the car away while the paramedics monitored my son’s condition. By the time they had safely got him out of the car, the air ambulance team had arrived.

My son was put into an induced coma to protect his brain and he was then taken to the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel before being transferred to Great Ormond Street.

Thankfully, he regained consciousness within 48 hours and was back at school within a month having made a full recovery other than the action man like scar to his forehead.

I will be forever grateful to all the wonderful emergency service personnel who helped my son that day. These people dedicate their working lives to keeping us all Safe and Sound and we need to appreciate them for the difficult and often thankless work they do.

Written by Tina Lazarus – Founder and Director of Safe and Sound

How we support London’s Air Ambulance

London’s Air Ambulance is a charity and relies heavily on public donations and fundraising. We support this life-saving service by making regular donations and taking part in fundraising events.

Our Stand Up for the London Air Ambulance comedy night was a sell-out and we are the very proud winners of the City Bounce 2016 tournament, helping to raise thousands of pounds for the charity!

 

Would you like to get involved?

We will advertise our next fundraising event on this webpage and we will also post about it on our Facebook and Twitter pages, so ensure you’re following us to see our latest updates. We’d also advise visiting the London Air Ambulance website to see how you can take part in other fundraising events or donate to help their cause. Your support today could save the life of a loved one tomorrow.

Get Involved

On-site Courses at your Workplace or Home

We know how hard it can be to schedule training around busy work and home commitments so we do our best to make it easy for you by offering flexible, on site courses at your workplace or home, 7 days a week, across the UK.

View Our Courses

What our customers say about our courses

 Very impressed with the high standard of training given by these very experienced paramedics.  It was a confidence booster to be trained by such professional and competent instructors.

Health and Safety Adviser

City of Westminster College

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We were extremely impressed by the training.  The instructor was knowledgeable and it was great to have examples shared to make the learning more real. We have  come away feeling happy and confident with what we have learnt and will definitely be booking more of our team on this training.

Nursery on the Green

Bright Horizons

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Throughout our 10 years of working with Safe and Sound they have always provided excellent training which is delivered by pleasant and professional trainers. The administration procedure is straightforward and they take account of comments we make and adjust their delivery to accommodate our requests.

Business Service Manager

CBC Services Lambeth

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